13:27, 24 ноября 2022, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Aigul KUVATOVA
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued a statement of condemnation in response to news reports that Kyrgyz authorities on Wednesday deported investigative journalist Bolot Temirov to Russia.
«The deportation of Bolot Temirov, a Kyrgyz citizen and arguably Central Asia’s leading anticorruption investigator, is an outrageously irresponsible and vindictive move, which could put his life in danger amid Russia’s mobilization in its war on Ukraine,» said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. «Kyrgyz authorities must immediately reverse this measure, which caps months of judicial harassment of Temirov and his outlet, Temirov Live, and cease harassing and obstructing the work of independent news outlets.»
Bolot Temirov was expelled from the country by court decision on November 23. Immediately after the trial, where the verdict was announced, he was taken by force, accompanied by law enforcement officers, to the airport and sent by plane to Russia.
Earlier, the Sverdlovsky District Court acquitted Bolot Temirov on two counts. The case was dismissed on two more, including on a fake passport, due to expiration of the statute of limitations. The court did not apply punishment to the journalist.